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A Dry White Season
During the 1976 Soweto uprising, a white school teacher's life and values are threatened when he asks questions about the death of a young black boy who died in police custody.
1989 · Directed by Euzhan Palcy · 107 min · Drama · Thriller · Screenplay in the scene database · 4 frames
Plot
In 1976, in South Africa during apartheid, Ben Du Toit is a South African school teacher at a school for whites only. One day, the son of his gardener, Gordon Ngubene, gets beaten by the white police after he gets caught by the police during a peaceful demonstration for a better education policy for black people in South Africa. Gordon asks Ben for help since both their sons know each other. After Ben refuses to help because of his trust in the police, Gordon gets caught by the police as well and is tortured by Captain Stolz. Against the will of his wife Susan and his daughter Suzette, Ben tries to find out more about the disappearance of his gardener by himself. Following the discoveries of the murders of both Gordon and his son by the police, Ben decides to bring this incident up before a court with Ian McKenzie as lawyer but loses. Afterwards, he continues to act by himself and supports a small group of black people, including his driver Stanley Makhaya, to interview others to promote social change. This does not go unnoticed by his work colleagues with the school principal Cloete firing Ben for betraying the status quo prompting Ben to assault him leading to Ben being forced at gunpoint off the premises. His son is later expelled from the same place of education for fighting after his classmates turn on him accusing him of being a communist race traitor.
The white police notice their intentions and detain some responsible persons. To file a civil suit, Ben collects affidavits and hides the information at his house. Ben lets his son in on his plans. His son and his daughter both get to know the hiding spots, and after the police search through Ben's house, there is an explosion next to the hiding spot because the daughter betrayed it to the police, but the son saved the documents. Gordon's wife, Emily, is killed when she refuses to be evicted from her home. Ben's wife and daughter leave him. The daughter offers to her father to get the documents to a safer place.
They meet at a restaurant and Ben gives his daughter unbeknownst-to-her fake documents, which she delivers to Captain Stolz. Instead of giving her the documents, Ben passed her a book about art. At the end, Ben is run over by Stolz, who is later shot by Stanley in revenge.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Screenplay: Colin Welland, Euzhan Palcy
- Cinematography: Kelvin Pike, Pierre-William Glenn
- Edited by: Glenn Cunningham, Sam O'Steen
- Music: Dave Grusin
- Produced by: Paula Weinstein
Cast
- Donald Sutherland as Ben du Toit
- Janet Suzman as Susan du Toit
- Zakes Mokae as Stanley Makhaya
- Jürgen Prochnow as Captain Stolz
- Susan Sarandon as Melanie Bruwer
- Marlon Brando as Ian McKenzie
- Winston Ntshona as Gordon Ngubene
- Thoko Ntshinga as Emily Ngubene
- Leonard Maguire as Bruwer
- Gerard Thoolen as Colonel Viljoen
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: Afrikaans, Zulu, English
- Studios: Davros Films, Star Partners II, Sundance Productions
- Themes: woman director
On this film
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